24 Hours in Nowhere by Dusti Bowling

Author:Dusti Bowling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling Children's Books

happenstance: coincidence

Probably not.

I swallowed. “On the night that William Dufort went into the mine and died.”

Matthew and Jessie gave each other excited looks. “But that watch was the only thing he had on him when he died,” I told them. “And the only darn thing he left my grandma, or so she said. She said he probably found it while he was drinking out in the desert.”

“Maybe he stole it,” Matthew said. “Maybe he stole it and everything else.”

“Or maybe he found it, just like my grandma said,” I answered.

“Maybe that paper is a treasure map,” Jessie said excitedly.

“Yeah, and maybe it’s a grocery shopping list,” Matthew said.

Jessie frowned. “Why would someone put a grocery shopping list in a pocket watch?”

I looked at Rossi. “What do you think it is?”

She shrugged. “Could be anything.” Then she turned her head. “Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” I asked.

She stood up, hunched over, and held out a hand. “I feel air movement.”

“So?” Matthew said.

“So that means there could be an opening nearby.” Rossi jumped down to a lower boulder, and then to one next to it near a wall of the cave. She pulled herself up onto a ledge. I could barely see her as she walked along the ledge and disappeared into the darkness.

“Rossi,” I called out.

“I see light,” she said. “Come here.”

I looked down at the lights on the ground. I didn’t want to get too far away from them. The mountain lion was still down there, looking bored.

I jumped from one boulder to the next as Rossi had, then climbed up onto the ledge with her. There was a small hole in the wall, and when I stuck my head in it, I could see a dim light. “You’re right. We can get out!” I called to the boys. They followed us until they were standing underneath the ledge.

“Actually,” Rossi squeezed into the hole and then back out, “we can get out. It’s not big enough for them. It’s barely big enough for us.”

Matthew and Jessie groaned on the boulder. “Are you serious?” Jessie said. “We have to stay here?”

“We’ll go get help,” I told them. “Just stay on that rock and wait. We’ll get help and come back for you.”

Rossi was already tying her T-shirt into a knot, getting ready to enter the hole. “It’s difficult to tell, but I think it’s maybe only fifteen feet to get out. We can make it.”

My stomach cramped. The idea of squeezing through that hole and somehow inching my way fifteen feet was about as appealing as Grandma telling everyone in town, in the entire state of Arizona, that I was home with “the trots.”

“Are you prepared to do this, Gus?”

Pfft. Like I would tell her no and have her think I was a total wimp. I took a deep breath. “Follow me, Rossi. I’ll go first in case there’s anything in there.”

I couldn’t see her face in the dim light as she whispered, “Okay.”

Before I squeezed into the hole, Matthew called, “Be careful, Gus.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.